What to do while on vacation?

[Nabob89]

Is there a way to dose/feed your reef tank while on vacation....but letting someone in the house while I'm away to do the job is not an option....any thoughts on how I could keep my corals/fish alive while I'm away? Our family vacations are usually no more than 10-12 days (at most).

 

[petesreef]

I am going on vacation for a week. I plan on hatching live brine, adding them to the refugium and hope the slowly make their way into the tank. Otherwise an auto top off system should be able to handle evap, dosing even. good luck

 

[Blindmelonbob]

There are a variety of automatic feeders on the market. Take a look at marinedepot or your local fish store.

 

[bjonesjr1]

I sugest the automatic feeders, They work pretty well and aren't that expensive

 

[Nabob89]

I'll buy an auto-feeder.....but for the top off systems....Do you just mix some salt water in a large tub with the additives in it....then let it sit on the floor? It seems fairly simple...If I understand them correctly....

 

[Blindmelonbob]

Top-off is fresh water...no salt.

 

[Nabob89]

so then do you just put the additives in the freshwater in a large tub on the ground....then just plug it in and your good to go?

 

[ipiniowa]

You could go cheap with the auto-topoff and buy a medical dosing pump off ebay. I have seen this work well.

 

[rjwilson37]

I always have someone come and check on my tank every other day and I only leave for about 5-6 days. I just could never leave my tank for that long without having someone check on it and make sure the top-off is working properly. Were talking an investment of 3-4k, plus 3 years of work to get this far, there is not a price to put on it if something happened to it.

 

[Blindmelonbob]

Yeah, that would work. Any idea what your evaporation rate is now? Your top-off container will need to hold enough water for about 12 days...or however long you're gone. And hopefully you've got some time between now and when you're leaving to figure this out and get some practice in with whatever system you choose.

*edit -- Here's a link to Melev's auto top-off page. He's got pics and descriptions of what he uses.

http://www.melevsreef.com/plumbing/auto_topoff.html

 

[Nabob89]

yeah this post is more for future reference for me since my tank is FO right now....I just wanted to know your opinions for when it finally becomes a reef....so I'll have time before its all setup to figure out how much water I'll need/have time to practice. Thanks
Matt